The Professional
Lauren Fleshman finds herself in Oregon.
By Marc Chalufour
As featured in the April 2012 issue of Running Times Magazine

A few wisps of dirty blond hair and a primal "OOOOOOW!" emerge from inside Lauren Fleshman's hood. She holds her black sweatshirt above her navel to keep it dry and lowers her legs into the Willamette River's frigid current. It's a cold Friday morning in mid-December. She soaks here year-round, reviving her muscles and watching the geese come and go.

This slab of slimy riverbed is one of the reasons that she and her husband, pro triathlete Jesse Thomas, moved to Springfield, Ore. They live just across the street. Two miles from Pre's Trail, 5K from Hayward Field.

Fleshman has chased athletic dreams from California to Ohio and back again. Success has defined every step of her career--Foot Locker runner-up in high school, three straight NCAA 5,000m championships, and a U.S. 5,000m title--but injury has often followed close behind. She's learned a lot from nine years on the professional circuit. Here in Oregon, a few months before the Olympic trials open downriver in Eugene, Fleshman has finally found herself.